﻿HOUGH] KAVA DRINKING I'.Y PAPUANS AND POLYNESIANS 87 



by a low, long sweep of the arm, bending the bod) at the same time. 

 The recipient drinks in silence, holding the cup in one or both hands, 

 and, finishing at a single draught all that he intends to take, he 

 pours the remainder on the Stones and spins the cup before him. 

 The drink is passed along b) seniorit) till all have participated, 

 when the large howl is emptied upon the stones and the makers 

 withdraw. Numerous quarrels originate from mistakes made in 

 first presenting the cup to a person of inferior rank. 



Nothing is said or done until all have been supplied, but a chiei 

 will often leave after his turn, and the council generally breaks up at 

 the end of the drinking. If much ava is taken at one time the legs 

 become helpless. It is believed to be a gentle tonic, preventing 

 malarial fevers, and it is used freely. 



The apparatus for kava preparation and drinking consist of few 

 pieces, but they are among the finest manufactures of the islands. 



The bowl is usually a circular, shallow, wooden vessel standing 

 upon short legs. It is always of solid wood, for the Pacific islanders, 

 like the Africans and other races of a certain degree of advancement, 

 know nothing of joinery. They vary in size from 9 to 36 inches in 

 diameter and are remarkable specimens of wood carving. In Samoa, 

 the bowl is made of ifi lele, Afzelia bijuga Gray, or Samoan chest- 

 nut; in Fiji, harder wood is used, and sometimes small bowls are 

 made of iron-wood or of dense cocoanut palm. A pierced lug at the 

 edge of the bowl is supplied with a cord of plaited coir for suspension. 

 The bowl is never washed after use, but is allowed to dry, in order 

 that the deposit left by the liquor may in time form a crust upon the 

 surface, which renders the bowl highly valuable. ( >n the interior of 

 the bowl in the U. S. National Museum, presented to President Cleve- 

 land by Malietoa, one of the Samoan chiefs, there is a delicate sea- 

 green polished patina that is very beautiful. 



The cup from which kava is drunk is almost invariably made from 

 cocoanut shell. The lower half of the shell is employed, being 

 scraped and rubbed with stones under water into a thin, highly 

 polished cup. forming a graceful and valuable drinking vessel. These 

 are never wiped dry, that they may thus take on the enamel so 

 valued in the bowl. The Samoan cocoanut, being of exceptional 

 size, is much sought after in the islands for making cups. Usually 

 they are pierced in the thicker portion at the point and supplied with 

 a cord for hanging. 



The strainer (fan in Samoan). is simply a long fringe of bark from 

 the fan tree. Hibiscus tiliaceus. In Tonga, the strainer is made at 

 the time of the kava ceremony, by crushing the green stalks of the 



